More Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 18)

The line-up news is coming in on Saturday and for the Buffalo Sabres, it looks like forward Sam Reinhart is to become a healthy scratch, as his impact on his NHL club has been nil to this point, through five games of the NHL season. There are rumblings that Reinhart will be sent back to Kootenay of the WHL for the rest of the season, but an educational scratch will give a bit of a buffer, as Reinhart could still play in four more games for the club, before being sent down and not burning a year on his entry-level deal.

The Sabres have only one win in their first five games this year, so they will need some productive help and they can open a line-up spot with the demotion.

This is not good news for Troy, as his team sits in 17th spot going into Saturday, sitting at 30 points.  If it's a scratch that helps, which Troy surely hopes it is, then this is a positive, but that just doesn't seem likely at the moment.

It is also expected that San Jose defenseman Jason Demers will take a seat in the press box, as the Sharks take on the Devils in New Jersey. Demers has 2 assists in the first four games of the season, so the optics of a scratch seems to be a bit strange.  The Sharks are also 3-0-1 to start the year, so it isn't a matter of their results either.  Nevertheless, Demers is out, Scott Hannan draws in and we'll see what happens in the swamp, I guess.

More bad news for Troy, who has had a slightly above-average week, in terms of skater games played, going into Saturday with 23 to his name (average is 21.7).  Losing both Reinhart and Demers to scratches will greatly affect that result at the end of the week.

News from the Motor City, as forward Johan Franzen is a game-time decision tonight, dealing with a lower-body issue, which he picked up in the first game of the series with Toronto this weekend. Franzen left Friday night's game after scoring a pair of goals, but the coaching staff think he might still be able to play on Saturday night.  The Red Wings are not skating ahead of the game, which may provide rest for the injury prone forward.

Also in Red Wings injury news, Jimmy Howard will not be backing up Jonas Gustavsson on Saturday night in the return contest, as Howard is dealing with a minor groin problem.  The team has called up Petr Mrazek to be the backup tonight and it is believed that Howard could be ready to go again on Tuesday night, when the Wings take on the Canadiens in Montreal.

Grant S. is hopeful that Franzen is able to play tonight, as his team sits in 5th place, only 1 point out of 2nd spot.  With a couple goals last night, he'd hate to miss out on a potential hot streak, playing against the Leafs.  As for the goaltending situation, it seems likely that Gustavsson would have made the start anyways, which was good news for Tony, but an injury to Howard doesn't bode well for Dale B., who is neatly in the mix, 4 points out of the money.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.